Associação de Cotesia flavipes (Cam.) com Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok e Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill no controle da broca da cana-de-açúcar Diatraea flavipennella (Box) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).

Abstract

Sugarcane Saccharum officinarum (L.) is a crop of great economic importance in Brazil by food production for man and animals, production of ethanol fuel for automotive, and energy cogeneration. One factor that limits the sugarcane productivity is the pests’ infestation that causes losses in agricultural production and in industrial yield due to the sugar decrease per cane ton. The moth borers complex belonging to the Diatraea genus is one of the main problems for the cultivation of sugarcane in all growing regions. In northeastern Brazil, there are the Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr.) and Diatraea flavipennella (Box) species. It is known that the main method of controlling moth borers of Diatraea genus is through Cotesia flavipes (Cam.) larval endoparasitoid, which was introduced in Brazil in 1974 and until today is effective in controlling this pest. However, more recently, the D. flavipennella controlling by C. flavipes has been questioned due to the increasing dominance of this species in the region. Thus, this work aims to assess the interaction of C. flavipes parasitoid in association with the Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill fungi for controlling D. flavipennella, the effect of entomopathogenic fungi on the parasitoid, and the predominance quantify of D. flavipennella species in the sugar plantations of Pernambuco State, Brazil. Based on results found in this work, it is expected to clarify the situation, offering subsidy to optimize D. flavipennella control. The experiments were carried out in laboratory and surveys in sugarcane plantations in different regions of Pernambuco.